The majority (60%-75%) of U.S. casino revenue comes from slot machines; however, revenue from slot machines has been declining over the past decade. On the other hand, there are 112 million multiplayer gamers in the U.S. today. Video games generate $26 billion per year, rivaling a similar spend from fans of traditional sports. Casinos will benefit by offering new products that appeal to generations who've grown up playing video games.
Casinos are undergoing a crisis as revenue from slot machines continues to fall. Casinos are struggling to engage and retain a young audience. Most slot players are older (above 50), while young people (below 40) don't play slots as they grew up playing interactive video games. Traditional slot machine manufacturers are not keeping up with younger players' expectations for new games. Younger players who grew up playing video games spend much less time in casinos than the older players and are looking for a more engaging product beyond traditional reel slot machines.
The problem of retention of users of traditional gaming machines lies in that they are less interactive and are based on chance rather than skill, as interactive video games tend to be. Current technologies fail to incorporate younger players' interests in interactive games of skill with casino machines. In particular, existing technologies fail to directly combine a player's performance in a game of skill with the payout.
Therefore, there is a need to provide means to increase enjoyment and interactivity of gaming devices wherein player skill input has a clear and obvious effect on player payouts.